I'm interrupting this holiday for a very interesting observation

from Phelps:
First of all, if they really had the authority to do this, they never would have worried about it. Here’s a thought experiment. Suppose a police officer (you know, a real law enforcement officer) decides to, with legal authority, give you a pat down. A real patdown involves more than just brushing the genitals. It involves a full on groping, by necessity.

Tell that cop, “if you touch my junk, I’ll have you arrested for sexual assault.” What is that cop going to do? He’s going to say, “tell it to the judge” and then he’s going to do his pat down anyways. Why? Because he actually has authority. The TSA balked. You know why? They know they don’t have the authority to do this.

You doubt this TSA and related crap is about control?

and that they want to punish anyone who causes a problem?
The terminology contained within the reported memo is indeed troubling. It labels any person who “interferes” with TSA airport security screening procedure protocol and operations by actively objecting to the established screening process, “including but not limited to the anticipated national opt-out day” as a “domestic extremist.” The label is then broadened to include “any person, group or alternative media source” that actively objects to, causes others to object to, supports and/or elicits support for anyone who engages in such travel disruptions at U.S. airports in response to the enhanced security procedures.

For individuals who engaged in such activity at screening points, it instructs TSA operations to obtain the identities of those individuals and other applicable information and submit the same electronically to the Homeland Environment Threat Analysis Division, the Extremism and Radicalization branch of the Office of Intelligence & Analysis (IA) division of the Department of Homeland Security.

Got all that? But wait! There's MORE!!!
For “any person, group or domestic alternative media source” that actively objects to, causes others to object to, supports and/or elicits support for anyone who engages in such travel “disruptions” at U.S. airports (as defined above) in response to the enhanced security procedures, the [applicable DHS administrative branch] is instructed to identify and collect information about the persons or entities, and submit such information in the manner outlined [within this directive].
So. Big Sis Napolitano considers me, and Breda, and the Amputee Mom and EVERYONE ELSE who objects to or gives support to anyone who objects to the Touching Special Areas clowns 'domestic extremists'. And wants us on a list.

Any doubts remaining about what these people are?

Found this linked by Breda

Her post here; I'm going to excerpt a chunk from Amputee Mommy's post:
I was instructed to remove my leg. I refused, stating that it was against procedure to insist that I remove my prosthetic. Another man was brought over, who lectured me about the increased security risk and the need to keep screening procedures current. He reiterated that the rules have changed, and that he needed my prosthetic. Looking at my frightened little boy and knowing that we were becoming pressed for time, I begrudgingly removed my leg and handed it to the rude agent. "What's that?" the man asked while pointing to my liner. I explained that it was my prosthetic liner, and that I wore it to keep my prosthetic attached. He insisted that he needed to run my liner through the machine as well. I don't think that the general public understands how personal a residual limb is to the amputee. It is on par with one's genitals. I simply don't remove my liner in public exposing my limb, and I was humiliated by the request. At this point, our plane was boarding. I had amassed a group of four TSA officers around me, and Robby was scared and in tears. I knew that what they were asking me to do was wrong, but I also knew that fighting at that moment would caused us to miss our plane. I just wanted to get home. I took off my liner. I sat quietly in a chair as onlookers and gawking passengers watched me expose one of my most personal features. I felt defeated and humiliated. My liner, which is supposed to be maintained in a hygienic manner, was thrown into a screening bin inside out and run through the machine. No care was given to sanitizing the container which I am sure is riddled with fecal matter and bacteria. I was given no opportunity or materials to clean the liner after it was contaminated. It was half-hazardly thrown into my lap as I was told that I could leave. I put my leg on and gave Robby a huge hug. We gathered our carry-on items which had been removed from our bags and strewn on a metal table. Tears were rolling down my face as I called my family for support.

Read it all. Breakables warning in effect, and the TSA assholes involved ought to be fired. At the least. If they're fucking professionals they should ACT like professionals, which means knowing what the hell they're doing when dealing with things like this.

This makes me feel SO safe and the thought of being molested

by the TSA so much better...

So, according to Napolitano, trains and buses and subways

are a 'privilege' to travel on and you give up your rights when you buy a ticket...

I want you to consider what this shit- ignoring for the moment the 4th Amendment violations and such- is going to do to travel. And does Incompitano and Obama give a rats ass as long as they increase their power over us?

Ref the video of the kid being searched by the Touching Special Areas guys,

here's the defense from TSA's Blogger Bob:
On November 19, a family was traveling through a TSA checkpoint at the Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC). Their son alarmed the walk through metal detector and needed to undergo secondary screening. The boy’s father removed his son’s shirt in an effort to expedite the screening. After our TSO completed the screening, he helped the boy put his shirt back on. That’s it. No complaints were filed and the father was standing by his son for the entire procedure.
Except, from the guy who took video:
Lets get the facts straight first. Before the video started the boy went through a metal detector and didn’t set it off but was selected for a pat down. The boy was shy so the TSA couldn’t complete the full pat on the young boy. The father tried several times to just hold the boys arms out for the TSA agent but i guess it didn’t end up being enough for the guy. I was about 30 ft away so i couldn’t hear their conversation if there was any. The enraged father pulled his son shirt off and gave it to the TSA agent to search, thats when this video begins…
...
Before I could get to them a man in a black suit who had been talking with the other TSA officials approached me. He asked to speak to me and I obliged, wondering what was to come. He then proceeded to interrogate me about why I was videotaping the “procedures of the TSA”. I told him that I had never seen such practices before on a young child and decided to record it. The man being frustrated at this point demanded to know my plans with the video, of which I didn’t respond. Repeatedly he asked me to delete the video, hoping his mere presence could intimidate me to obey, but I refused.
...
My gate was a long way off, but about 15 minutes after arriving 2 TSA agents came and sat 15 feet or so away from me. I stood up and moved so that they were in front of me and then took a picture. A 3rd and then a 4th agent came and sat down with the others. They would occasionally glance at me and talk on their walkie-talkies. I don’t know why they were there or if it was a huge coincidence but they stayed for 30-45 minutes and left just before I boarded the plan. Interesting to say the least, intimidating? Maybe a little…
And he's lucky;
Once Harbor Police arrested Wolanyk, he was handcuffed and paraded through two separate airport terminals in his underwear to the Harbor Police office located inside a different terminal at the airport than Wolanyk had originally gone through during his TSA security process.
...
A woman who was recording the incident was also arrested.

TSA: Fast Food Rejects With Police Powers. And A Really Bad Attitude.

The judge who gave the injunction to prevent the Measure 755

vote being certified has extended her injunction for a week. And the CAIR clown is out whining that he's received mean and nasty e-mails from people(big surprise, huh?). Last line in the second link bothers me:
"I'm glad there are people who will stand up for others--will stand up for the culture of other people," added Mohammed.
Not 'stand up for the beliefs of' or 'religion of', 'for the culture of'. That bit of wording...

One of the ironic things about this? If there had been a measure saying "You can't consider the Bible or the Torah" in addition to or instead of state & federal law in trials, it'd be called unneeded, but that's about it; this measure says 'religious law, including sharia, or international or foreign law' and suddenly "This violates my freedom of religion!" and the Usual Suspects are all up in arms about racism(note: islam IS NOT A RACE, morons). Bullcrap.


Not connected other than in the 'threats to freedom' line, the Norks shelled a South Korean island, killing and injuring people.


In the TSA bullcrap,
In an hour-long discussion with reporters, Pistole said media officials at the Department of Homeland Security had urged him to "get out ahead" of the potential controversy by formally announcing plans for enhanced body searches and the use of new X-ray and radio-wave imaging devices at 70 airports beginning in November.

But doing so would have provided a "roadmap or blueprint for terrorists" to avoid detection by using other airports where the new technology wasn't in place, Pistole said.

Rather than publicize the changes, Pistole said he made a "risk-based" decision to roll it out first and "try to educate the public after we did that."
Translation: "I think flying is a privilege, and the peasants will do what they're told, or else; we don't need to give out this information. Besides, anybody causes problems, we'll punish them with fines and that'll shut them up." Maybe he really believed telling people what was coming would 'warn the terrorists'; if so, he's a fool for thinking the serious threats aren't looking for things like this already.

Also, flying only became a 'privilege' when you decided it was, you dirtbag; before that it was simply a travel option if you could afford it. And we're not your damn customers: a customer is somebody who seeks a service or product from you, therefore having a choice; we're not being given one. Screw you and every one of your clowns speaking of us as 'customers'.


The Andrew Traver "Scary black rifles should be banned from peasant ownership" video has shown up.


A 1911-based .410 autoloading pistol? Bleep.


Back to the TSA crap, the problem with the "You don't like it? Don't fly" line is that TSA has a hand in trains, too; so is taking a train a privilege also? That they can restrict as they choose? Where does that crap stop? "Using the Interstate Highway System is a privilege, not a right, so pull over and be searched"?

Bleah. I need some range time.

Why I consider TSA to be the equivalent of 'zero-tolerance' in schools:

a lot of these rules are simply so the TSA people don't have to actually think about anything.
So we’re in line, going through one at a time. One of our Soldiers had his Gerber multi-tool. TSA confiscated it. Kind of ridiculous, but it gets better. A few minutes later, a guy empties his pockets and has a pair of nail clippers. Nail clippers. TSA informs the Soldier that they’re going to confiscate his nail clippers. The conversation went something like this:

TSA Guy: You can’t take those on the plane.

Soldier: What? I’ve had them since we left country.

TSA Guy: You’re not suppose to have them.

Soldier: Why?

TSA Guy: They can be used as a weapon.

Soldier: [touches butt stock of the rifle] But this actually is a weapon. And I’m allowed to take it on.

TSA Guy: Yeah but you can’t use it to take over the plane. You don’t have bullets.

Soldier: And I can take over the plane with nail clippers?

TSA Guy: [awkward silence]

Me: Dude, just give him your damn nail clippers so we can get the f**k out of here. I’ll buy you a new set.

Soldier: [hands nail clippers to TSA guy, makes it through security]

This might be a good time to remind everyone that approximately 233 people re-boarded that plane with assault rifles, pistols, and machine guns–but nothing that could have been used as a weapon.
At least according to the TSA.

"You'll do what you're told, peasant,

or else."
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is warning that any would-be commercial airline passenger who enters an airport checkpoint and then refuses to undergo the method of inspection designated by TSA will not be allowed to fly and also will not be permitted to simply leave the airport.

That person will have to remain on the premises to be questioned by the TSA and possibly by local law enforcement. Anyone refusing faces fines up to $11,000 and possible arrest.

"Once a person submits to the screening process, they can not just decide to leave that process," says Sari Koshetz, regional TSA spokesperson, based in Miami.

Koshetz said such passengers would be questioned "until it is determined that they don't pose a threat" to the public.
Please remember that the 'don't touch my junk' guy was told to leave by these cretins and then threatened by them for trying to do so.

Go screw yourself, Koshetz, and take all your little molesting minions with you. I especially don't like your threats when you morons are doing things like this:
A German government minister has today revealed that a fake bomb found on an Air Berlin flight in Namibia was manufactured in the U.S. to test airport security.

It was not yet clear who had planted 'test suitcase', said German interior minister Thomas de Maziere, but the one fact they had established was that the device had been manufactured by a U.S. company that specialises in alarm systems.
...
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) confirmed today that it was working with the German and Namibian authorities 'to determine the origin of the device and the reason it was being transported on the plane'.
This is YOUR SHIT, Koshetz, and you don't know how it got there? By whose hands? And you threaten us for not being docile enough about taking your orders?

Just a few bits & pieces this evening

Hey, Mr. Rockefeller(NSD-WV), fuck you. You are not the official censor, and if you can't do honest work with Fox or whoever talking about it, you ought to get your fat ass out of that chair and go away.


(NZZ AM SONNTAG): The new thing about your proposal for a Global Deal is the stress on the importance of development policy for climate policy. Until now, many think of aid when they hear development policies.

(OTTMAR EDENHOFER, UN IPCC OFFICIAL): That will change immediately if global emission rights are distributed. If this happens, on a per capita basis, then Africa will be the big winner, and huge amounts of money will flow there. This will have enormous implications for development policy. And it will raise the question if these countries can deal responsibly with so much money at all.

(NZZ): That does not sound anymore like the climate policy that we know.

(EDENHOFER): Basically it's a big mistake to discuss climate policy separately from the major themes of globalization.
You bastards want to rob me, at least have the balls and integrity to try it with a gun; we'll see what happens.


Speaking of lack of integrity, the Democrats still want to give illegal aliens amnesty; Malkin has a list of (reported)Republicans who need yelling at.


Oh yeah, no reason to be bothered by the TSA assholes playing with the images, nooooo...


And last, what's Pashtun for "Holy Shit!"?

Something I hadn't previously considered about the Dick-Measuring Machines

TSA is so proud of:
I've worked as an electron microscopy tech and while there was extremely little risk of radiation, I still had to wear a monitoring badge just in case. Why aren't the TSA agents? We also had to have out equipment inspected and calibrated regularly, with the inspection info clearly visible. Again, if this were the case with TSA, I might feel a little better. However, until third-party unbiased tests come out, I'll be opting out and reporting TSA agents doing pat-downs for sexual assault and battery - what you claim is protocol and what go on are two very different things.
That is a damn good point, I think. I mean, hell, police are supposed to be able to show that the bloody speedguns are checked and properly calibrated, so...

And he's not kidding about the 'sexual assault and battery', either.

A last note for the evening

On a local radio show some guy called in about the TSA mess and said '...I want to get through the trip alive, in other countries they're REALLY invasive,' etc. To which I thought "So the underwear bomber went through, ah, was it two or three? of those foreign airports with all their 'REALLY invasive searches' and still got on the plane with a bomb... So were they just not invasive ENOUGH or what?"

Trying to get something mailed from Japan?

Don't count on it.
Japan Post Services Co. said it will stop accepting airmail packages bound for the United States weighing 453 grams (1 pound) or more starting Wednesday because airlines will stop such delivery at the request of U.S. aviation authorities as part of antiterrorism measures.

The postal services arm of Japan Post Holdings Co. handles 16 million letters and packages by air and sea to the U.S. annually, and "15 percent of that will be affected," a Japan Post spokesman said. That means about 200,000 packages a month will be affected.
Further:
However, JP Post will continue to accept packages regardless of weight in cases where it has confirmed the safety of the sender, such as packages from corporate customers that use JP Post's post-shipment payment system and have a history of doing business with JP Post. JP Post will also continue to handle packages shipped by methods other than air, such as sea mail, as usual.

"Among private firms, on November 11, Yamato Group's Yamato Logistics suspended acceptance of household goods for shipment by air to the United States. Other major private firms are under pressure to respond as well, and there is concern that this will lead to major disruptions in the flow of goods between the United States and Japan."


I'm throwing this in just because it seems to fit in with idiots giving orders:
Governor-elect Lincoln Chafee on Monday stood by his campaign pledge to repeal Governor Carcieri's executive order on illegal immigration, saying that a letter sent to him from a Rhode Island woman who was kidnapped and raped at knifepoint by an illegal immigrant would not change his mind.

"That could happen in any state. We're one of only six states, I think, to have E-verify. There are 44 other states that don't have it and these types of tragedies can happen in any one of those 44 states," he said at a news conference for a separate issue. "I don't necessarily make the linkage." ....
Translation: "I sold myself for the votes this bought, and I'm going to pay off, no matter what the price to others. Besides, what good is it to try to protect people in this state if ALL other states aren't doing it(please buy this shit I'm selling, pleasepleaseplease...)"

Whether it's the guy he always had in mind, or he just decided

to shove the worst he could forward for the job, Andrew Traver for BATFE head. Read all the links, and this piece from NLOGM:
Traver has significant connections to projects of the notoriously anti-gun Joyce Foundation. The Joyce Foundation provided $675,000 in funding for the International Association of Chiefs of Police - IACP - to put on the 2007 Great Lakes Summit on Gun Violence. Traver was a participant in this meeting along with such gun control notables as Gary Wintemute, Director of UC-Davis' Violence Prevention Research Program, Nina Vinik and Robyn Thomas of the Legal Community Against Violence, and David Hemenway of the Harvard School of Public Health. There were also a number of representatives from some of the local gun control organizations and a selection of anti-gun politicians and police chiefs including Mayor Richard Daley.

It is important to note that Traver was not a mere attendee at this meeting, he is listed as an advisor to it along with others like Tom Diaz of the Violence Policy Center and Nina Vinik of LCAV. The acknowledgments thanks the advisers who "worked tirelessly to help us design and accomplish a powerful policy summit by attending many meetings and events and by voicing their invaluable counsel as we moved forward with this important initiative."
Part of their wish list:

• Requiring that all gun sales take place through Federal Firearms License (FFL) holders with mandatory background checks
• Enacting an effective ban on military-style assault weapons, armor-piercing handgun ammunition, .50 caliber sniper rifles and other weapons that enable criminals to outgun law enforcement
• Repealing the Tiahrt Amendment, which hinders investigation of illegal gun trafficking
• Destroying guns that come into police possession once their law enforcement use has ended
• Mandating safe storage of firearms by private citizens and providing safe facilities where gun owners can store their weapons
• Mandating reporting of lost and stolen firearms
• Develop a best practices protocol for voluntary gun surrender programs
• Congress should restore funding for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program for state, local and tribal agencies to investigate and prosecute cases of gun trafficking and gun violence
• The federal government should increase funding to ATF for personnel and technical assistance to combat gun violence
• Congress should enact legislation to allow federal health and safety oversight of the firearms industry

Be sure to check out the opinion of the guy from ATF agents at the bottom of the post; just the kind of guy we expected The Obama to shove in. As someone put it "There damned well BETTER be a confirmation fight."


In the same "You need to be controlled by the Government for your own good" line,
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said using a cell phone while driving is so dangerous that devices may soon be installed in cars to forcibly stop drivers — and potentially anyone else in the vehicle — from using them.

“There’s a lot of technology out there now that can disable phones and we’re looking at that,” said LaHood on MSNBC. LaHood said the cellphone scramblers were one way, and also stressed the importance of “personal responsibility.” …

“I think it will be done,” said LaHood. “I think the technology is there and I think you’re going to see the technology become adaptable in automobiles to disable these cell phones. We need to do a lot more if were going to save lives.”
Once again, 'necessity' is the mother of "We need to control you" with these people. What? Ticket people driving carelessly ore recklessly because of their phone use? No! WE NEED MORE LAWS!!!


Andrew Dodges' experience with the friendly fast-food rejects at TSA.


And last, there's a bunch of people at DOJ who need to be fired over this. And banned forever from any government job.

If you want proof that the current TSA bullcrap is exactly that,

read this. If this crap was the 'absolutely must-have security measures' Big Sister Napolitano claims, there's no way in hell ANY particular racial/religious group would be given this kind of option.

The fact that TSA is giving muslim women this option tells you exactly what bullshit this is.

Ref the curent "You touch my junk Updated

and I'm going to have you arrested." situation, I remembered reading about the run-in Penn Gillette had with the TSA people and managed to find it.
...A security guy came over. I assumed the position. I had a button up shirt on that was untucked. He reached around while he was behind me and grabbed around my front pocket. I guess he was going for my flashlight, but the area could have loosely been called "crotch." I said, "You have to ask me before you touch me or it's assault."

He said, "Once you cross that line, I can do whatever I want."
I said that wasn't true. I say that I have the option of saying no and not flying. He said, "Are you going to let me search you, or do I just throw you out?"

I said, "Finish up, and then call the police please."

When he was finished with my shoes, he said, "Okay, you can go."

I said, "I'd like to see your supervisor and I'd like LVPD to come here as well. I was assaulted by you."

He said, "You're free to go, there's no problem."

I said, "I have a problem, please send someone over."
That is an idea; they fondle something you think they shouldn't, demand a police officer so you can have them arrested. Would make things interesting., since the TSA weenies have apparently been trying to make the molestations as offensive as they can get by with:
I asked him if he was looking forward to conducting the full-on pat-downs. "Nobody's going to do it," he said, "once they find out that we're going to do."

In other words, people, when faced with a choice, will inevitably choose the Dick-Measuring Device over molestation? "That's what we're hoping for. We're trying to get everyone into the machine." He called over a colleague. "Tell him what you call the back-scatter," he said. "The Dick-Measuring Device," I said. "That's the truth," the other officer responded.

The pat-down at BWI was fairly vigorous, by the usual tame standards of the TSA, but it was nothing like the one I received the next day at T.F. Green in Providence. Apparently, I was the very first passenger to ask to opt-out of back-scatter imaging. Several TSA officers heard me choose the pat-down, and they reacted in a way meant to make the ordinary passenger feel very badly about his decision. One officer said to a colleague who was obviously going to be assigned to me, "Get new gloves, man, you're going to need them where you're going."
...
The second lesson is that the effectiveness of pat-downs does not matter very much, because the obvious goal of the TSA is to make the pat-down embarrassing enough for the average passenger that the vast majority of people will choose high-tech humiliation over the low-tech ball check.
You know, I'm really surprised some parent hasn't already decked one of these clowns for handling their kid; wouldn't that be one hell of a news story and court case?

Update: the thugs really don't like it when anyone says 'No', do they?

Corruption and stupids and liars,

Oh My!
Embattled New York Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel today defiantly demanded that the House Ethics Committee delay his pending public trial because he hasn't been given enough time to set up a defense fund to pay for legal representation.
...
Rangel also said that while he has asked repeatedly for the opportunity to clear his name, he only learned one week ago the details of the case.
Oh come ON, Charles, do you really expect anybody to believe that? Especially when one of your Housemates says
"Mr. Rangel has repeatedly sought and received legal guidance as to how he can pay [for counsel]," said Lofgren. "Mr. Rangel was provided with all the material and evidence on June 17 of this year. .. "
I do believe your little friends have been made a bit nervous, what with all the tea parties and the election, about trying their usual 'cover up for Charlie' crap.


On to the stupid:
LARA CARTER has slept with 20 strangers in the past year - in a desperate and reckless bid to get pregnant.

The self-confessed "sperm hunter" uses ovulation kits to tell her when she is most fertile then pretends to be drunk, throwing herself at unsuspecting fellas and making it obvious she wants sex.

If Lara, 25, meets a man who wants to use a condom, she will offer one from her purse - which she has already pierced a hole in.

Lara, an assistant office manager, says: "This is absolutely the right time for me to have a baby and nothing is going to stand in my way.
I should have titled this 'the stupid and self-centered'. "Oh, all my friends have babies, I want one too! And nothing can stop me!"
Well, fate or Deity or whatever has stopped you so far, and as long as you're this level of dipshit we can only hope it continues. May not have occurred to you, but a baby isn't your damned little 'make me feel good' toy; it'll be an actual human being that demands a hell of a lot from you for a long time to come.


On to the liars:
DENAIR – 13-year-old Cody Alicea rides with an American flag on the back of his bike. He says he does this to be patriotic and to honor veterans, like his own grandfather, Robert. He’s had the flag on his bike for two months but Monday, was asked told to take it down.

A school official at Denair Middle School told Cody some students had been complaining about the flag and it was no longer allowed on school property.
[...]
Cody’s grandfather says the school was concerned about racial tensions or uprisings because of the flag. He feels if there was really a problem it should have been brought up two months ago, not during Veterans week.
Here's the liar:
The school’s superintendent is now saying that the boy was told to remove the flag out of concerns for his safety, and that the school will now allow him to fly it again.
As Malkin notes, if this had been a Mexican flag or something similar, anybody believe the school would've banned it? As to the 'student complaints' screw 'em; who wants to bet against the complaints being from hispanics?


Also in this category,
At the same time, the coalition wants to signal to the Taliban – along with Afghans and regional partners who fear a coalition withdrawal, and Republicans in Congress who oppose it – that they are not leaving anytime soon.

“We have to assemble a coherent narrative . . . that everyone buys into,” said a senior administration official, one of several who discussed ongoing alliance negotiations on the condition of anonymity.
Yeah, I wouldn't want my name associated with that bit of crap either. Very fancy way to say
"We don't actually want to win, but we don't have the balls to say that outright."


And the big one in this category(today at least),
One of the Beltway’s most influential, entrenched and unaccountable left-wing radicals, Browner has now been called out twice by President Obama’s own federal BP oil spill commission and Interior Department inspector general.
...
First, the BP oil spill panel dinged her for disseminating misleading information to the public about the scope of the disaster.
...
This week, the Interior Department inspector general singled out Browner’s office for butchering peer-reviewed scientists’ conclusions in a key report about the administration’s preordained deepwater drilling moratorium. The scientists first blew the whistle on the administration’s monkey business this summer (pdf here). A federal judge sided with the misrepresented scientists and blasted the Interior Department’s big green lie that its moratorium was “peer-reviewed” and endorsed by “seven experts identified by the National Academy of Engineering.”


Oh, bleeping Deity on a pogo stick, how effing stupid/incompetent ARE these people? And why are they wearing badges?
(after some backfires)But Thursday night, Ransom, concerned that the vehicle might catch fire, stepped out of the van about the time the two officers arrived to investigate and began firing.

Ransom could only stand with his hands in the air and yell that he was not shooting.

“I guess they couldn’t hear me,” Ransom said Friday.

Besides the damage to Ransom’s van, windows of the patrol car were also shot out — apparently by the officers as they got out of the patrol car.

Police and media reports initially described the incident as the police car being hit by a bullet fired from a suspect in the van.
The level of 'fail' demonstrated by these two morons is- well, just about indescribable.

I'm going to end this with Tam's suggestions for how to deal with TSA(Touch Squealy Areas?):
1) When the groper approaches, shake your head, point at the most attractive member of the checkpoint staff and say in a dreamy voice "No, I want them to do it!"

2) Ask the groper's name so that you can shout it out for added verisimilitude: " [groper's name here]Oh, yes! Oh,! Oh, God, yes!"

3) Get a panicky look on your face and mutter "Two by two, hands of blue. Two by two, hands of blue..." over and over.

4) If you're a male, turn your head and cough.

Well, maybe if every kid they feel up

yells "HE'S TOUCHING ME IN MY PRIVATE PLACE!" it might cause some of the clowns some alarm? Maybe get Big Sis to understand a few things?

Or maybe the airlines getting fewer and fewer passengers at people say "Screw this"?

Once again TSA, with help in this case from Philadelphia PD,

demonstrate why so many people A: Don't trust them and B: Don't fly because of it.

And take note of this:
Two Philadelphia police officers joined at least four TSA officers who had gathered around her. After conferring with the TSA screeners, one of the Philadelphia officers told her he was there because her checks were numbered sequentially, which she says they were not.
followed later by this:
Lt. Frank Vanore, a Philadelphia police spokesman, said that TSA personnel had called his officers, who found the checks to be "almost sequential." They were "just checking to make sure there was nothing fraudulent," he said. "They were wondering what the story was. The officer got it cleared up."
Uh, Lt. Dumbass, either they are or are not sequential; and if they're not, saying they were as an excuse for this bullshit was a flat lie.

Apparently there was no actual crime in or around the airport, so these cops decided to find something to do. And assist TSA in doing shit they're not supposed to do:
The new TSA directive reads: "Screening may not be conducted to detect evidence of crimes unrelated to transportation security." If evidence of a crime is discovered, then TSA agents are instructed to contact the appropriate law enforcement agency.

A: Her having some checks is not related to airport security(theater);
B: Having some checks is 'evidence' of a crime? Etc.

Having a short time before I have to drag into the kitchen

and make some dinner, and being in a proper mood, I'll now hit some news.

The striped-pants dirtbags at the State Department need to be added- if they weren't already there- to the list of 'bureaucrats that should be whipped alongside the politicians'.
State Department officials on Monday confirmed Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Imam of the so-called Ground Zero Mosque, will soon be going on a trip of the Middle East and the U.S. government will be picking up the tab.


Hey, Nanny Bloomberg, you might understand most of the people in NYEffin'C really don't like you talking down to them like you're lecturing a 2-year old. Matter of fact, I think a lot of them are getting damned sick of you.


I shall have to make sure I don't buy anything from General Electric if I can avoid it; screw 'em.
FOX Business Channel’s Charles Gasparino told Bill O’Reilly tonight that GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt gathered the CNBC reporters together in early 2009 and scolded them for reporting negatively on Barack Obama. GE owns 80% of NBC Universal.

We already knew that Jeffrey Immelt was pushing non-existent global warming so that his company could benefit from cap and trade legislation. Now we know that GE’s CEO was sitting at meetings in the White House and scolding his reporters for being hard on Obama.


In other media malpractice,
WJLA-TV, a Washington, D.C. ABC affiliate, suspended reporter Doug McKelway following his alleged “partisan” comments at a liberal rally on Capitol Hill marking the three-month anniversary of the Gulf oil spill. Video of the broadcast tells a different story:
Video at the link.


Political idiocy leading toward national suicide:
Earlier this summer, a group of congressional Democrats sent a letter to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton urging her to begin the process of categorizing the Taliban as a terrorist group. In June, Sens. Charles Schumer and Kristen Gillibrand of New York and Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez of New Jersey proposed legislation that would immediately add the Taliban to the terrorist list.

Yet the State Department’s report (due on April 30 but released last week), did not include the Taliban with groups such as al-Qaida, Hamas and the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA). To qualify, an organization must meet only three criteria: It must be foreign, it must engage in terrorist activity and its activity must threaten the security of the U.S. or its citizens.

“It is hard to imagine this agency can see fit to issue a report that doesn’t include the Taliban groups,” Fred Gedrich, a foreign policy analyst and former State Department employee, told The Daily Caller. “They have killed more Americans and conducted more terror attacks on innocent civilians during the past 12 months than any other terror group.“
Yeah, it's hard to believe; except it's just the kind of stupidity we've come to expect from many Democrats in general and the Obama Administration in particular.


Just as Michelle Obama returned from her much-criticized luxury vacation to Spain, which cost the U.S. taxpayers an estimated $400,000, her husband cut $11.9 billion from the Food Stamp program, designed to help the poorest Americans.

The cut, along with tax increases to businesses is supposed to pay for an aid package to several states, mostly to prevent the layoff of about 160,000 public school teachers and administrators.

Of course, the teachers’ unions are tremendous contributors to the Democratic Party, and were instrumental in putting Obama in office. The move is seen by many as a payback for their support.
You think maybe?


I have to note that when I went through the TSA checkpoint at El Paso, it was about as painless as that crap can be made. They made EVERYBODY take off their shoes, and belts, and anything else they could think of, but I didn't see anybody abusing their position in the few minutes I was there. I do have to say, for someone used to carrying a sidearm and pocketknife damn near everywhere, having to make sure you don't have a dangerous pair of fingernail clippers forgotten in your bag or shaving kit or whatever is a pain in the ass. And somewhat demeaning; I'm sick to death of having it demonstrated that our 'betters' don't trust us with arms or tools.

And on that cheery note, I need food.